The court considered the appropriateness of detaing a potential deportee when he was set against returning home. The applicant had been convicted on three charges of kidnapping false imprisonment and blackmail. Goldring J said: ‘The case of Mohamed Dahmani, reference CO/2947/97, was not, I am told, drawn to the attention of the Court of Appeal in the decision of I. The applicant had been detained for a period of some 19 months (a similar period to the detention in this case) under section 2(3) of schedule 3. I simply cite part of Keene J’s judgment on page 4:
‘Miss Giovannetti has also drawn my attention to the case of Lehchibi, a judgment handed down on 21st January by Mr Justice Latham, which refers to the factor of how far an applicant has contributed to his own misfortune in the sense of delaying his removal through his own lack of co-operation. It seems to me that that becomes relevant because it may mean that whatever steps the Home Secretary has taken, they become all the more reasonable because of the problems created by the applicant himself.
The position in the present case is that in my judgment the applicant has been responsible for a substantial part of the delay which has occurred in this case.’
and ‘In addition, as I have indicated, it seems to me that the responsibility for a large part of that 19 months of detention rests, at least partly if not largely, with the applicant himself because of the lack of co-operation to which I have referred earlier.’
It seems to me I am entitled to approach the present case on this basis. Non-co-operation may not be decisive. It is, however, a relevant, possibly highly relevant, factor. If that were not so, the purpose of these provisions could deliberately be defeated by a determined applicant. It would be open to such a person simply to sit there and do nothing until return was no longer a realistic prospect. Such a person might well then disappear, having been released into the community. That person may, moreover, be somebody convicted of most serious criminal offences (as has the applicant in this case). It cannot have been Parliament’s intention that the Act could be frustrated in that way.
Judges:
Goldring J
Citations:
[2002] EWHC 2797 (Admin)
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Rostami, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department QBD 7-Aug-2009
The claimant had been detained for nearly three years while his application for asylum was determined. He sought judicial review, saying that the detention was unlawful. Whilst in detention he had self harmed and said: ‘I will stay in detention for . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Immigration
Updated: 22 May 2022; Ref: scu.347816
